Georgetown University School of Medicine 2025 Commencement Speaker: Victor J. Dzau, MD

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(April 28, 2025) — Victor J. Dzau, MD, president of the National Academy of Medicine and vice chair of the National Research Council, exemplifies how scientific excellence can be embodied alongside humanitarian vision. Throughout his career, he has connected laboratory breakthroughs with community impact, guided by his belief that “medicine is a vocation, and not only a profession.”

Georgetown University School of Medicine is pleased to welcome Dzau as its commencement speaker for the graduating class of 2025. He will receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Science.

Service as the North Star

Dzau’s remarkable trajectory — from refugee to physician-scientist to global health leader — is anchored by an unwavering commitment to service as his North Star.

Throughout his journey from treating individual patients to shaping health policy at the National Academy of Medicine, Dzau has consistently oriented his work around making a difference in people’s lives. This service ethos has led him to look beyond individual treatments to address the social determinants of health and create meaningful outcomes in his community.

For Dzau, medicine transcends professional obligation — it represents a calling to improve human conditions through science, policy and compassionate action that reaches all corners of society.

“I talk about having a ‘North Star,’ which for me is the need to serve and to make a difference. I encourage those of us who choose this calling to ask ourselves: ‘What are we here for, and how can we make the world better?’” Dzau said.

Leading the National Academy of Medicine

As president of the National Academy of Medicine, Dzau leads an organization uniquely positioned to address health care’s most pressing challenges through nonpartisan, evidence-based collaboration. The academy brings together experts from diverse fields — including economists, private sector leaders and government officials — to drive consensus on contemporary medical questions.

“We are made up of independent thinkers. We come together to say, ‘How do we solve the problems of medicine nationally and globally?’” Dzau explained.

This platform also relies on public input to ensure that research, policy and public health remain responsive to community needs.

 “We are continually reaching out to communities to say, ‘In what we do going forward in medicine, we need to understand your needs,’” he said.

From Refugee to Physician-Scientist

Born in Shanghai after World War II, Dzau’s family fled to Hong Kong when he was 5 during China’s Communist takeover. He vividly recalls his refugee experience.

“If you look at today’s news and see images of the masses of humanity — that was my memory,” Dzau said. His early exposure to suffering and illness during his family’s journey and resettlement inspired his quest to become a doctor.

At 18, Dzau left to study medicine at McGill University in Canada, where he earned his medical degree. His education ultimately led him to a residency at Harvard Medical School’s Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, where he was inspired by leaders “making discoveries that could translate to human application.”

As a researcher-physician, Dzau investigated ACE inhibitors, a groundbreaking therapeutic breakthrough that has dramatically improved survival rates for millions of patients with hypertension, heart failure, and kidney disease.

From Patient Care to Global Impact

As Dzau’s career progressed, he sought to expand his impact beyond individual patient care. At Brigham, he recalls a pivotal meeting with his mentees Jim Kim, MD, PhD, who went on to serve as president of the World Bank, and the late Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, who co-founded the international nongovernmental organization Partners in Health.

At the time, Kim and Farmer were traveling to Haiti as volunteers to provide medical services, and Dzau remembers feeling a spark as he thought back to his early memories fleeing Hong Kong.

“I knew what it’s like to experience poverty and seeing people around me being ill,” he said. “So I started to move beyond my own research, beyond running the department, into what we can do for underserved people.”

Dzau helped establish the Division of Global Health Equity at Harvard, creating an academic home where faculty could pursue global health work. Similarly, his creation of the Division of Women’s Health demonstrated his commitment to addressing gaps in medical care and research.

The Importance of Community

During his decade as chancellor and CEO of Duke University Health System, Dzau began to examine the social determinants of health in his own community.

“I was living in Durham, North Carolina, and I realized that the people in my community were also my patients, and nearly all the employees of the health systems were living in the community,” he said. “It became apparent to me that you can’t simply separate your work from the community. It’s important to look at the whole issue of population and community health.”

Echoing Georgetown’s credo of cura personalis, Dzau emphasized that health care must address the whole person by considering social determinants of health and advocating for equitable social policies, not just treating diseases.

“We cannot forget the fact that the whole person — including their background, what they eat, where they live and work, all this affects their health,” he said.

This understanding led him to work not only on access, but also on the social determinants of health. He currently chairs a nonprofit in Durham called Made in Durham focused on creating career pathways for young people who might otherwise drop out of school without job prospects, for example training them to be technicians in biotech companies.

Medicine as a Vocation

For new physicians entering the field during challenging times, Dzau offers both perspective and encouragement.

“Medicine is a vocation, and not only a profession. You’re there to do good and serve people. That happens in any condition and under any circumstances, sometimes difficult and sometimes easier,” he said. “For those who are truly committed to doing this kind of good, medicine is the right field for them.”

He also points to unprecedented opportunities: “We are in a time of science and technology that no other period has ever seen. You can edit genomes, you can do immunotherapy, you can use AI.”

The challenge is ensuring equitable access to these advances. If the majority of people don’t have access to the latest advancements, Dzau refers to this gap as “the second valley of death.”

“Those just starting in their careers have the opportunity to look at, not only how science can shape individual health, but also how it affects the broader population.”

Lauren Wolkoff 
GUMC Communications